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I finally stopped guessing at my base timing and used a vacuum gauge instead of my ears
For a solid 3 months I was setting timing by ear on my 22RE, and it pinged every time I hit a hill on I-70. Then a guy at a parts counter in Denver showed me the vacuum method, pull timing till the gauge peaks, back off 1 inch of mercury, and it's been dead smooth for 6 weeks now. Anyone else run a vac gauge for their baseline or do you just stick with the light?
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max_schmidt778d ago
Vacuum gauges are a crutch, plain and simple. The factory spec on a 22RE is 5 degrees BTDC with the terminals jumped, and if you just set it there with a light and a paperclip you wouldn't have been chasing pinging for 3 months. Your gauge method got you smooth because you tuned around a worn out timing chain or a tired distributor advance, not because it's the right way to do it. Peak vacuum can land you 3 or 4 degrees off from where the motor actually wants to be, and on a motor with any valve overlap your reading gets shaky and vague. Buy a $30 timing light, jump the connector, set it to spec, then fix the real problem like the slack in your chain or your knock sensor. Otherwise you're just hiding a worn out motor behind a gauge reading, and it WILL bite you come emissions time.
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